Published: 2023-11-06

“They are about to make Versailles out of Białystok”. European aspirations of the court of Katarzyna Barbara Branicka née Radziwiłł (d. 1730)

Anna Penkała-Jastrzębska
Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings
Section: Rozprawy i Artykuły
https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2023.30.1.10

Abstract

This is the first attempt to examine the activity of Katarzyna Barbara Branicka née Radziwiłł and her influence on the private court in Białystok. The reconstruction of the residence was one of the first and, at the same time, the most important projects undertaken by the spouses. The idea of ​​the reconstruction corresponded with the European aspirations of the magnate couple. The article draws on the preserved extensive correspondence of Katarzyna Barbara, supplemented by the letters of her husband, Jan Klemens and mother, Anna Katarzyna Radziwiłł née Sanguszko. The scale of the work carried out and the funds allocated for the extension of the residence brought the intended effect - the residence in Białystok became one of the most beautiful from the eighteenth-century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

Keywords:

Court, Białystok, 18th century

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Citation rules

Penkała-Jastrzębska, A. (2023). “They are about to make Versailles out of Białystok”. European aspirations of the court of Katarzyna Barbara Branicka née Radziwiłł (d. 1730). Saeculum Christianum. Historical Writings, 30(1), 136–153. https://doi.org/10.21697/sc.2023.30.1.10

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